The "Matin" publishes an interview with the Chinese Minister in Paris on the situation in the Far East. His Excellency is reported to have said All the statements which have been made up to the present are words and nothing more. It is not sufficient to define the conditions. It remains to be known on whom they are to be imposed, and the Allies are in the dark ea the subject, having no responsible power to deal with. They have, it is true, Li Hung-chang and his colleagues, but all that is more diplo-marie fiction, a mere show to amuse Europe. The Plenipotentiaries can do nothing in the state of perpetual dread which weighs upon them: nothing, except scheme, lie; gain time, and save their leads, if possible. If recalcitrant they are useless, and expose themselves to the resentment of the Powers. If, on the other hand, they are submissive, they know what fate is in store for them should the Empress Dowager retain an atom of power. The Minister (says the interviewer) accompanied these words with a high-expressive gesture, which would be full of meaning to a prisoner awaiting execution.
As for the guilty Princes (continued the Minister), they will never be executed except in telegrams, just as we have seen several personages who retain to the full their living and sinister influence, being executed or committing suicide, But
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